BJP a master of copying, has copied SP manifesto: Akhilesh Yadav

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday hit back at allegations by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that his government was patronising copy mafia in the state, and said it was in fact the BJP which was a master in copying.

Addressing an election rally in Siddharthanagar, the Chief Minister accused the BJP of "copying" the manifesto of the Samajwadi Party, including poll promises like free laptops to students.

He however also went on to justify copying during the exams and said "Who does not cheat a little bit to pass in exams."

Asking the people to respond to whether they had copied in their childhood or not, the Chief Minister said that there was almost none who did not cheat during exams in school life. "We are talking of laptops, smartphones and development and the BJP is talking of graveyards and crematoriums," the 43-year-old SP national president said.

He was referring to Modi's speech on Sunday during an election rally, where he said: "If a village receives funds for a graveyard, then it should also get for a cremation ground... If you provide uninterrupted power supply for Eid, then you should also do it for Holi."

Akhilesh Yadav said the SP was a party of the youth, farmers and the poor. He took on Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and arch rival Mayawati and said that people dozed off in her rallies and she read out long speeches.

Warning the people against the BSP, which he claimed had entered into a secret pact with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Akhilesh Yadav said nobody wants a government which was only busy building parks and installing statues - referring to Mayawati's stint as Chief Minister when she had built parks and installed statues of BSP leaders and the party symbol of elephant.